In November, Bernie Belzer is planning on joining her brothers, Pat and Dan, and her sister, Gretchen, in running the New York Marathon.

On Saturday, the Bismarck runner turned in one heck of a tune-up for New York, winning the women's division of the N.D. Kroll's Roughrider Marathon.

Belzer crossed the finish line in 3 hours, 24 minutes and 29 seconds, 12:11 ahead of runner-up Deanna Wayne of Maple Grove, Minn. For Belzer, that was six minutes slower than her personal best of 3:18, which she ran in Fargo, but fast enough for her first marathon victory.

"I was trying to use this as a little bit of a training run, because I want to run a little bit harder in New York. … I think it's just going to be thrilling. I'm really excited about it."

Saturday was pretty exciting for Belzer and men's winner John Keyes of Pierre, S.D., who completed the 26.2-mile course in 2:49:26. It was also the first marathon win for Keyes.

Bismarck's Andrew Nielsen, the 2006 winner and 2007 runner-up, was second in 2:59:11.

"Me and another guy ran together through about 13 or 14 miles," Keyes said. "I gradually pulled away a little bit there, I guess. I felt good all the way through."

Belzer, 45, ran her first marathon in 2000, and her siblings have been right there with her from the beginning. It was her brother who talked Belzer into running her first marathon, in 2000 in Los Angeles. Although Belzer took a break from the sport for a few years, she and her siblings - including Pat, who coaches track in their hometown of Cando - run together frequently. Saturday was her eighth marathon.

"One of the things that I noticed is that there's so many people doing their path for the first time or doing the marathon for the first time," she said. "Otherwise they wouldn't be exercising like they are, so it's just a real motivator. It's good for people to have something to get them going."

Belzer was running in her second Bismarck marathon, having placed seventh in the women's division last year. She said she loves the course and also feels the rapidly growing relay division has been a good addition to the event.

"There's more runners that pace you," Belzer said. "There's a little bit more action, so that's really fun. And then you get to go through the exchange. So there's a lot of people there, and a lot of positive energy."

Keyes, who ran cross country and track at Northern State University, ran his first marathon when he was just 17 years old. His goal is to run marathons in all 50 states. So far he has spread 15 marathons over 14 states. He eclipsed his personal best time by eight minutes on Saturday.

"Probably the biggest ones I've run in have been the Dallas Marathon and Atlanta," he said. "I haven't run in New York, Boston or Chicago yet, but that's one of my goals."

Chad Wallinof Minot and Camie Anderson of Bismarck were the half-marathon winners. Wallin ran a 1:11:32 and Anderson a 1:27:26.

Team Spirit placed first in the relay division with a time of 2:58:44. The members of the team were Vance Krebs, Fawn Schirado, Dave Knoll, Dan McGurren and Karen Woodbury.